Distributed ledger technology to play a central role in Morocco’s 2030 digital strategy

On September 25, Morocco unveiled its Digital 2030 strategy which aims to transform Morocco into a digital leader and boost its digital economy using AI, DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology), cloud services, and an ecosystem that supports innovative startups.

Moroccan digital 2030 strategy to continue $10.35 billion to GDP

As per the strategy, the country seeks to create 240,000 jobs in the digital sector by 2030, which it expects will contribute 100 billion dirhams ($10.36 billion dollars) to the country’s gross domestic product while increasing digital export revenues to 40 billion dirhams ($4.15 billion).

The strategy also aims to improve Morocco’s ranking in the United Nations Online Services Index, moving from 100th to 50th place worldwide in addition to creating 3,000 startups and improving 5G coverage to 70% of the North African kingdom’s territory.

The Minister of Digital Transition, Ghita Mezzour, who unveiled Morocco’s 2030 digital strategy noted that the strategy seeks to transform Morocco into a digital leader, driving economic growth, improving public services, and enhancing the quality of life for citizens.

She added in her presentation that the strategy aims to boost the digital economy, streamlining and digitizing services for sustainable development, and fully embracing digital technologies, including artificial intelligence and DLT.

Head of the government Aziz Akhannouch, highlighted the government’s commitment to the strategy, which involved consultations with key stakeholders from across the digital sector, including public administration, professional associations, educational institutions, the private sector, and civil societies.

The Moroccan Agency for Digital Development (ADD) will play a central role in supporting the digitalization of public administrations according to the head of the government, while a unified digital portal will standardize administrative procedures across various stages.

The strategy will receive more than $1.1 billion in funding and will include the development of FAB labs and prototyping centres. The country hopes to attract large global tech companies.

DLT growth in Morocco

Earlier this year, the Binance Academy and Blockchain Centre announced plans to reshape the educational landscape for blockchain technology by integrating a blockchain engineering course into the university based in Casablanca, Morocco. The initiative focuses strongly on blockchain engineering and compliance education and aims to educate over one million students globally by 2026.

Moroccan startup Tookeez, a pioneer in leveraging blockchain technology to improve customer loyalty programs, has secured $1.5 million in funding. The investment round was led by Azur Innovation Fund, a prominent public-private seed capital fund based in Casablanca.

مرتكزاً على الكفاءات المغربية المتألقة في مختلف مجالات تكنولوجيا المعلومات والرقمنة، يعتبر ترحيل الخدمات قطاعاً استراتيجيا وواعداً لما يوفره من فرص شغل ذات قيمة مضافة عليا كفيلة بالمساهمة في التنمية السوسيو اقتصادية لبلادنا 🇲🇦#DigitalMorocco2030 #المغرب_الرقمي_2030 pic.twitter.com/pQT9aGupoA

— Ministère Délégué auprès du CG chargé de la TN&RA (@Ministere_TNRA) September 24, 2024

One of the VVIP guests invited to the Digital Strategy 2030 announcement ceremony was the President of the Hashgraph Association, Kamal Youssefi.

At the event, Youssefi noted, “We are honoured to be invited to the launch of the Digital Morocco 2030 National Strategy. We intend to support the Moroccan government in its digitization endeavours, leveraging the distributed ledger technology (DLT) of Hedera Hashgraph. We have already started this digital transformation journey with the strategic partnerships signed at Gitex Africa 2024 with the Agency of Digital Development (ADD) and UM6P Ventures.”

The Hashgraph Association will be working with Agency of Digital Development to strengthen citizen services using the Hedera DLT network and Web3 technologies. While the work with Moroccan UM6P Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and the investment arm of UM6P (Mohammed VI Polytechnique University), will help to develop entrepreneurship and accelerate science innovation and co-investment opportunities in Morocco and the wider Africa region.

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